The View from Right Field

What Kind of an Ex-President Will Barack Obama Be?

President Obama is starting his valedictory tour.  Even though his presidency has over eight and one-half months to go, he is giving interviews to friendly people in the media, talking about how much good he has done.  Last month was a long interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic, “The Obama Doctrine” (which I commented on here, here, and here – and which lots of other people commented on all over the world wide web).

Now it’s the economy, with an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin in The New York Times Magazine.  I have not yet read this article as closely as I did Mr. Goldberg’s article, and I may have more comments on it in the future.  The main points in the article, however, seem to be that, one, you don’t know how good you have it and, two, the Republicans are full of baloney, both in how they obstructed what he was trying to do and in the criticisms they are making of where we are economically today.

Governments and Central Banks Don’t Seem to Be Getting Growth Right. What Should We Do?

Central bankers all over the world are pushing interest rates down, or keeping them down, to try to get inflation up and increase economic growth.  Japan has gone to negative interest rates, as has the European Central Bank.  Before them, it was Sweden and Switzerland.  Denmark has had negative interest rates since 2012.  While the United States still has positive rates, the Federal Reserve recently delayed a planned increase, leaving the target for overnight rates at 0.25% to 0.50%.

The idea is that low interest rates will increase borrowing and lending, which will result in economic growth.  In addition to low rates, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and Japan’s central bank have embraced quantitative easing, i.e., having the central bank buy bonds in the marketplace, which is another way for the central bank to increase the money supply, again to increase lending and borrowing.  While the Federal Reserve has ended its QE program, the ECB and Japan are continuing theirs.

Why I Boo #Brewers Ryan Braun

Ryan Braun was not in the Brewers’ starting lineup last night.  But with two men on base and the Brewers down by three runs in the eighth inning, Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell sent him up to pinch hit.  Cubs fans, including me, started booing Braun before he was even announced.  When Braun hit a double, driving in two runs, on the first pitch, he was pumped, probably figuring he showed us Cubs fans.  Well, maybe.

But you see, the reason I booed Ryan Braun was not because he took steroids or whatever performance enhancing drug it was that he took.  As the Brewers fan behind me commented, Braun was punished for that and now he can play under the rules.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan Thinks You’re Sort of Dumb

Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, has proposed another amendment to the Illinois Constitution.  This one was to allow higher income taxes on people making more than $1 million a year, with the extra tax money going to education.

As I mentioned last week, with Speaker Madigan, it is sometimes hard to know, when he does something like this, whether he means it or if he is just doing it for political effect.  In this case, however, it wasn’t.  It was all about politics.  When the vote on the amendment came, only 68 Democrats voted for it.  (It needed 71, which is the number of Democrats in the Illinois House.)  But while the vote failed, the politics didn’t.  The Speaker’s office issued a press release about the horrible Republicans voting against it just minutes after the vote.

#Cubs Jake Arrieta Saves Our Streak

Readers of this blog will know that I am, and was, very proud of the Cubs record of not getting no-hit since September 9, 1965¹ – until July 25 of last year.  Fortunately, I was on vacation at that time and didn’t see or listen to the game – or read anything about it.  When it ended, the Cubs no-hit streak had reached 7,920 games.  A major league record – by far. 

Except, sort of, for the Cincinnati Reds, who had not been no-hit, before tonight, in the regular season, since June 23, 1971, a total of 7,109 games.  The Reds had been no-hit in the postseason, however, on October 6, 2010, something which I felt counted even if other people didn’t.  Still, now the Reds streak is over no matter how you look at it. 

April 20: The 100th Anniversary of Pat Pieper’s First Game at Wrigley Field

Tomorrow is not only the 100th anniversary of the Cubs’ first game at Wrigley Field.  It is also the 100th anniversary of Pat Pieper’s first game as public address announcer for the Cubs.  Pat started to work for the Cubs in 1904, selling peanuts at the old West Side Grounds.¹  When the Cubs moved to what was then-called Weeghman Park in 1916, Pat became the public address announcer.  His first game, and the Cubs’ first game in what would become Wrigley Field, was April 20, 1916.  The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7 to 6, in eleven innings.

Until 1932, when the loudspeaker system was installed, Pat would go up and down the sidelines carrying a huge 14-pound megaphone, announcing the lineups.  But whether with the megaphone or the loudspeaker, it was always the same:

“Attention … Attention, please … Have your pencils … and scorecards ready … for the correct lineups … for today’s ballgame”

Wrigley Field: 600 and Counting

Friday was my 600th game at the Friendly Confines.  Actually, it was probably been more than my 600th, but 600 is the number I can confirm with scorecards.  The first game, or at least the first scorecard was back in 1957, sixty seasons ago, and it has Chuck Tanner’s autograph on it.  (Chuck played outfield for the Cubs in ’57.)

There have been a lot of games since then.  It is hard to say which are the most memorable.  There have been some great Opening Days:

• 1976 – the 100th anniversary of the Cubs franchise (the only original team still playing in its original city) and the Cubs won in the bottom of the ninth
• 1978 – Larry Biittner hitting one into the left field bleachers in the bottom of the ninth to win the game in front of the biggest crowd in Wrigley Field history
• 1989 – Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams strikes out the side with the bases loaded to save the game

Speaker Madigan Wants to Have the Courts Decide How to Fund Our Schools

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is proposing an amendment to the Illinois Constitution on funding for primary and secondary education.  The Chicago Tribune reports:

“[Michael] Madigan has proposed a state constitutional amendment changing the education article of Illinois' governing document and creating the potential for the state to be sued if it doesn't come up with the majority of money to finance public schools.

Madigan was a delegate to the convention that drew up the 1970 Illinois Constitution, including the current education article, which says: ‘The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education.’

President Obama on Fox News. What a Change from 2009.

Chris Wallace had an exclusive interview with President Obama on Fox News on Sunday.  Which is fascinating if you remember the Obama administration’s efforts to blackball Fox News in 2009. 

In October of 2009, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod told George Stephanopoulos, on ABC’s “This Week”:   

“[FOX News] is not really a news organization. … [I]t's not even their commentators, but a lot of their news program.  It's really not news, it's pushing a point of view …."

Mr. Axelrod went on to say that ABC News should do what the White House was doing and not treat FOX News as a legitimate news organization:

“[T]he bigger thing is other news organizations like yours, ought not to treat them that way.  And we're not going to treat them that way ….”

Rules on Drone Strikes: For Thee, But Not Me

Last Thursday, in remarks at the University of Chicago, President Obama said, by the time he leaves office, there would be strict rules in place for conducting drone strikes and ensuring government accountability:

“My hope is that by the time I leave office, there is not only an internal structure in place that governs these standards that we’ve set, but there is also an institutionalized process whereby the actions that the U.S. government takes through drone technology are consistently reported on an annualized basis."

That is fine, except President Obama promised more openness and scrutiny for drone strikes in May of 2013.  That’s three years ago, and the openness and accountability is still not in place.